Blue Man Group Drum-Off shows off styles, musicality of instrument

On stage at Container Park Saturday night, the first drummer’s mohawk was barely visible above the drum set. Seven-year-old Donnie “Dirty D” Napolitano beat out a series of rhythms, one foot steady on the kick drum. The heads of the three young drummers that followed didn’t come much higher above the tom-tom drum.

When the last of the exhibition category performed, Luis Pereira, the first drummer in the competition portion of the night, began his routine bathed in red and pink light. At times he stood to get the crowd clapping and shouting “Hey!” between riffs. With a prize package worth $6,000 at stake, Pereira and the other four finalists in the Blue Man Group Drum-Off pulled a variety of tricks from their proverbial hi-hats, some trying out different drumming styles and repeatedly flipping their sticks in the air, others drumming with a blindfold on and using light-up drumsticks.

Nine drummers in total took the stage at Container Park on Saturday night, four in the exhibition category for kids 12 and younger and five finalists age 13 and older. An initial group of 27 contestants from as far as Illinois was whittled down to the five performing at Container Park over the previous three weeks. Contestants first submitted video auditions, then the chosen group of semifinalists performed for the panel of judges at the Blue Man Theater at Luxor.

Saturday’s panel of judges, which included drummers from Las Vegas’ Blue Man Group and The Killers’ drummer Ronnie Vannucci, scored the drummers on musicality, creativity, technical ability and personal style or flair.

“A lot of times people get up on a drum set and just play as fast and play as many notes as possible. If you were to do that on any other instrument, it would sound horrible, and I don’t think the drums should be any sort of exception to that rule,” Vannucci said.

Ultimately, Las Vegan Chris Foster took the top spot and the prize that came with it: a drum kit, set of cymbals, drumsticks, tickets to see the Blue Man Group’s show plus a VIP meet-and-greet and behind-the-scenes tour.

“Just being here was a privilege,” Foster said. “I told a friend, I was like, ‘Regardless of whether I win or lose, I’ve already won.’ What happened here is just a blessing.”

Though Foster didn’t incorporate as much pomp as some of the other contestants, the judge’s final decision came down to Foster’s composition — creating a beginning, middle and end to the solo. In the feedback immediately following his performance, the judges described his set and style as “musical.”

“His groove was really, really, really good and like I say, from beginning to end it felt like there was a journey involved and we all just liked the way he approached his solo,” Blue Man Group drummer Corky Gainsford said.

The Blue Man Group show in Las Vegas highlights drums as a stand-alone instrument and incorporates multiple drummers onstage at any given time, an experience not many drummers get, Gainsford said.

“The fact that they were able to recognize that and create a setting that was really celebrating drummers and the drumming experience and that tribal experience and to have a crowd here in Las Vegas and do all that and celebrate local drummers was really a cool experience throughout,” Gainsford said.

Read more from Sarah Corsa at reviewjournal.com. Contact her atscorsa@reviewjournal.com and follow @sarahcorsa on Twitter.